Lisa Murkowski to her fellow Republicans: It makes no sense to make this attack on women

Tina KorbePosted at 4:26 pm on April 6, 2012

WOW. Look, I respect that Alaska Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski values her moderate reputation, that she’s a kind person who seeks to facilitate conversation across the aisle, that she doesn’t want to offend her friends who are Democrats, but c’mon. She’s going to provide cover for Democratic rhetoric that Republicans are waging a “war on women”? Oh, I’m sorry, excuse me. Murkowski didn’t say Republicans are “waging a war.” She said they’re “making an attack.” Honestly, I can’t even figure out who she’s pandering to, other than to Democrats. From HuffPo:

She also said that she would continue to support funding for Planned Parenthood, adding that the courts have affirmed a legal right to an abortion and she stands by that. …

Murkowski, however, voted for the failed Blunt Amendment last month along with all but one Republican, which would have allowed employers to refuse to cover contraception or any other health service for moral reasons. She later said she regretted her vote and wouldn’t do it again if she had the chance.

If I were her, I’d consider Democrats‘ constant demagoguery of Republicans’ defense of religious liberty a breach of that “zone of civility” she supposedly prizes so highly. But, then, we all know the term “civility” has lost all rational meaning.

This is so highly disappointing to me. It’s one thing to think that even religiously-affiliated employers should be forced to cover the costs of contraception for their employees (although I’ve never heard a compelling argument to think that myself). It’s another to suggest that objecting to such a flagrant violation of conscience rights is somehow making an attack on women.

Again and again, let me correct the misimpression for those who seem to think that women are incapable of either controlling our sexual urges and/or purchasing our own birth control. Women are fully capable of making our own decisions and of abiding by the consequences. We are capable of abstaining from sex if we can afford neither contraception nor a child. We are capable of working to pay for our own contraception. WE ARE CAPABLE! To suggest otherwise is to patronize us and to encourage us to think of ourselves as victims. You know what people who think of themselves as victims do? They ACT like victims. Why are big-government politicians so determined to absolve women from taking responsibility for themselves? Candidly, it gives them power over us. People always say, “With freedom comes responsibility,” but it works the other way, too, “With responsibility comes freedom.” When we cease to take responsibility for ourselves, we give the State power to assume responsibility for us and we rapidly become indebted to the State. Women, stop looking for the means to avoid responsibility! I’d rather be free than indebted any day, thank you very much.

Ms. Murkowski, I’m compelled to say to you what I’ve already said to Sandra Fluke and President Obama: You do not speak for me.